Proof

Here's proof, I can catch a fish. This one is an 11 inch brook trout. We made a short trip to Chepeata res. Saturday afternoon. It was dark and cloudy so I was expecting a downpour. It just rained a bit. It was 53 degrees for all you heat lovers in the south. We were at an elevation of over 10,000 ft. It was too windy to fly fish so I was stuck using a spinner. Size 0 blue fox vibrax. I've got a few of those and this was the first time I've caught some fish on them. I caught a whopping 5 fish in about 90 minutes. You Dunlap boys sure are missing out!

I did it!

So, on the third try of fishing for more than 10 minutes, I finally broke 49. Saturday Clark and I went up to Uinta Canyon and fished the river. Clark wasn't so sure we'd catch that many fish because it's a harder river to fish at times.

We parked at the trail head parking lot and headed west. There was a small beaver pond that Clark caught a couple dinky ugly planted rainbows in. After a short hike through the trees we made it to the river. Clark did his usual "I'll take the other side" and I'll take this side thing. So while he went down stream I worked at fishing what few holes I could without getting things caught in the trees. It was a chilly 50 when we parked the truck and the water was still runoff cold. I wasn't trying hard to get wet like Clark. I'm a wuss at times.

After working at the river for a while, and fishing all the little side streams that the river makes, I finally caught more than 49 fish. I got a whopping 58. I kept three.

Clark on the other hand, caught a measly 112. He kept only 8 (that's the limit). I only caught brook and brown trout this time, he caught brook, brown, cutthroat, and rainbow. 4 species in one day is pretty good. Maybe next time I'll catch more than him. I probably would have done better had I wanted to get more wet. That and changing to a new fly when the one I had on was so worn out. I used the worn out one from last week for a while, then put a fresh one on and should have changed it around fishy number 30 or so. Clark went through 3 flies. He just needs to tie more so I have more to lose in the trees.

Fishing Report

So it seems that I am limited to catching only 49 fish per trip. Yesterday I went fishing on the Whiterocks River in Whiterocks Canyon with my brother Clark.

Clark told me Friday night he'd pick me up at 6am. So I got up at 5:20, got dressed, ate some jam and toast and headed outside. I knew I was early but I had to water the grass we planted and my garden. 6:00 came and Clark hasn't shown up yet. So I wait. 6:08 I decide it's time to call. It goes to his voice mail. 6:18 comes and I try again. Voice mail again. But right after I hang up he calls back saying he's on his way. He's only 3-4 blocks away so it wouldn't be long.

We stop for gas at Circle Maverik and head on our way. When we get to the end of the road we park the truck and dawn our gear. First the sunscreen, then the bug spray, then since it's only 7 I put my jacket back on. It was 57 when we shut the truck off. I strap on my .44 mag first, then put on my fanny back pack. It's a fanny pack that has shoulder straps so what else would I call it? Then I put on my fishing vest. All that gear was surprisingly comfortable. I hadn't ever fished with both the fanny back pack and the fishing vest on at the same time.

We made the short hike over to the river (100-200 yards?) and start fishing. Clark immediately waded through the icy cold water to the other side. After restringing my pole because I put my reel on wrong, I was able to make the first cast of the day. FISH ON! First catch was a fine little native (aka cutthroat trout). Natives are beautiful little fish that are fun to catch. Within minutes I had caught a couple more brook trout in just that first little hole.

We fished our way upstream. Clark had to scale a rock cliff face to stay on his side of the river. I on the other hand had to backtrack a bit and go up the side of the canyon to get around a cliff so I could continue fishing. After getting back down to the river, I finally spotted Clark.

I yelled something to him and he yelled "moose!" My comment? "What?" He says, "Bull moose!" I turned around to see some bushes moving and then a small bull moose just yards away. He went up the hill and on his way. This was the only big animal we saw that day. There was always the chance of seeing a bear. Whiterocks canyon has always been well known to have bear in it. On a side note, today I found out my neighbor was camping in the campground there this weekend. They did see a 2 year old bear. That was when his wife decided it was time to go home.

As we fished on I was ahead of Clark on the fish count for a while. I did catch a nice 10 inch native that had a beautiful orange/red belly. Something that can only be appreciated in person. Eventually Clark did surpass me on the number of fish (I'm limited to 49 remember?). I did catch and keep the bigger fish of the day. A nice 12 inch native. Clark had a total of 66 fish. I caught 6-8 natives and the rest were brook trout (a char technically). One of the fish that Clark kept had a minnow in it's mouth. Quite the sight to see considering the brookie was only 9 inches long and the minnow was probably 2-3 inches.

Now you are probably wondering why I'm limited to catching only 49 fish. On the only previous fishing trip of mine this year, I only caught 49 fish. Hopefully next time I will surpass the 50 fish mark.